


Stop Growing

by LetoaSai



Series: StrifeHart Fluff [50]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Feels, Kids growing up, M/M, They're up to seven kids, hard realizations, your babies aren't babies anymore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-10-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:15:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,838
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27039340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LetoaSai/pseuds/LetoaSai
Summary: Leon isn't ready for his kids to grow up, even if their idea of being grown up is playing out in the rain with a struggle bat.
Relationships: Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Leon (Kingdom Hearts)/Squall Leonhart/Cloud Strife
Series: StrifeHart Fluff [50]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1108581
Comments: 21
Kudos: 71





	Stop Growing

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

Leon was used to noise. His house was constantly filled with it. It was just a relief to him that the basement was dedicated to laundry and the kids play areas. Coloring books and blocks had slowly shifted into video games and pretend LARPing. Foam swords really had started something they couldn’t take back. Sora was currently making a spear out of paper towel rolls and cardboard. 

At some point he’d have to tell his kids they couldn’t be pirates, robots, or zombie hunters when they got older. However for the moment, he saw no reason to destroy their sense of whimsy. They were already spending a reasonable amount of time in the garage, getting in quick workouts here and there. Meditations had become a nightly affair. 

Ventus had been watching the same girl online playing the violin for weeks and was trying to teach himself to read sheet music. It was only a matter of time before he got up the courage to ask for one of his own. Cloud and Leon had already discussed getting him lessons for his birthday. 

When Vanitas wasn’t in the garage with Cloud, or down stairs playing with his siblings, he was sitting on the kitchen floor with the clays he’d gotten for Christmas. The kitchen floor was the easiest area to clean up even if he did have people stepping around or over him. 

Riku usually had an audio book playing, but Reiku liked to read the words. The level of noise always shifted depending on who was playing which game too. They were decent at taking turns but every group of kids had their moments. 

Leon sat at the kitchen table, getting his lecture notes ready for the following day. Across the kitchen, Cloud stood, smiling down at Xion who was concentrating on stirring. She stirred everything like the process was one of the ingredients. 

She was enjoying learning to cook and she wasn’t bad despite the fact that Cloud wasn’t ready to let her cook unsupervised just yet. She wanted to be both a witch and a princess. It seemed to be a perfectly normal thing for a six year old to like. 

“You should just cancel your last few weeks of classes.” Cloud mused, looking down at Xion who was balanced on a chair to reach the stove and stir. His attention however was on his husband. “It’s close enough to summer.” 

Leon smiled a little, tapping at the keys still. “You say that every year before break.” 

“Because it’s a clever idea and you ignore it.” Cloud smirked. Of course it helped that finals were rapidly approaching and Squall was never at his best that week. 

“I promise i’ll be less of a head case this time.” Leon said, already knowing what Cloud was thinking.

“Don’t believe that, love.” Cloud chuckled. “In three weeks you’ll be locked in our bedroom getting the last of your grading done.” 

Leon stuck his tongue out at him which had Xion giggling. 

“Daddy, is being a teacher hard?” 

Leon nodded. “Yeah, it can be. Learning is a hard job, but it’s a little easier when you have a good teacher. I try to be a good teacher.” 

“I bet you are. Rei says so.” Xion said, not as jealous as the other kids that Rei still went to school with Leon every day. 

“That’s very nice of him.” Leon mused. God knows his students loved him bringing one of his kids with him. If everything went well, Reiku would be able to go to proper school with the others come fall. 

“It’s why you should be nice to your teachers.” Cloud told her. “They’re like daddy.” 

“I guess so.” Xion hummed in thoguht. “Can i be a teacher?” 

Leon had to smile. “You could. You have to keep doing really well in school.” 

“You’ve got quite the list going.” Cloud mused, loving her child logic. “How many things is that now?” 

“Um..” Xion stopped stirring to count on her fingers. “Teacher. Cook. Witch. Tai-chi master. Cancer nurse, like the nice ones that helped Rei. Dog trainer. And princess.” 

“Lofty goals.” Leon nodded, closing his laptop and stretching his arms above him. 

Cloud folded his arms and gave their daughter a serious look. “Aren’t you already a princess?” 

“No, silly. I gotta marry a prince.” Xion explained as if he were the fool for not knowing. 

Leon grunted. “We’ll hold off on that one for a while.” He ignored Cloud’s teasing smirk. Xion was already his princess. 

“Good luck.” Cloud smirked. “Go tell everyone to start getting ready for dinner, wouldn't you?” 

Leon saluted which never failed to amuse Cloud. “On it.” He wandered out into the hallway. “Dinner!” he called, not sure which kids were in their rooms and which were in the basement. He opened the basement door next for his second call. “Dinner!” 

“Coming!” There was Sora at least. In only a few moments Ventus and Reiku appeared from upstairs and Sora, Riku and Vanitas filed out from downstairs. At least this wasn't a night where they needed to be dragged away from whatever they were doing.

“Good. Wash your hands. Set the table. Weren’t at least two of you supposed to be helping papa and Xion.” 

“I forgot.” Sora said, sliding passed him. It wasn’t at all believable. 

Ventus actually looked bashful. “Um, it might have been my night.” He actually did look like he’d forgotten. The contrite expression was only a beat away from real anxiety. 

Leon snorted. “Just help with the clean up and we’ll call it even tonight.” That got him a small smile from Ventus who just nodded. Crisis averred. Leon turned back to the kitchen himself and paused. He ended up counted everyone he saw. “Where’s Roxas?” 

“I dunno.” Vanitas said heading passed him into the kitchen, “His room?” 

“Roxas!” Leon called, waiting a second to hear a response and give the kid a chance in case he was in the bathroom. “He wasn’t in the basement with you?” 

“No.” Riku said, following his older brother.

Leon sighed and went in search of his youngest son while Cloud juggled the rest of them towards the dinner table. The bathrooms were empty and so was his room. There was that slight creep of panic he’d had when the kids were younger and they had to have child proof locks on the front door. 

“Where the hell is Roxas?” He called. 

“He’s outside, daddy!” Xion yelled back. 

“What?” Leon frowned and reappeared in the kitchen door a second later. “What?” 

Xion was still standing on a chair at the stove and she pointed out the window towards the backyard. “I can see him.” 

All traces of humor left Leon’s face. “What…” 

“Mm…” Cloud snorted, lifting Xion off the chair. “C’mon baby girl, time to eat.” 

And she didn’t need to see Leon jack Roxas up in the backyard. 

It had been raining all morning and while it had stopped, it was still misty and damp outside. It was not the time of day or the proper weather to be playing outside, let alone by himself. 

He stepped out into the back porch and heaved a heavy sigh all fathers knew too well. Roxas stood in the backyard, with a bat in hand. His legs and feet were covered in mud and his back and elbows too. He must have tripped at some point. He was waving the bat around with well practiced yells, soaked to the bone. 

“Roxas Strifehart! What the hell are you doing!?”

Roxas jumped a foot in the air, whipping around and shoving his hair out of his face. “Hi daddy.” 

“Get on this porch now. What the hell are you doing out here?” 

“I’m practicing!” Roxas said but did as he was told, feet squishing in the mud with every step he took. 

Leon tried not to scowl. “Practicing? Practicing for what?” 

“Struggle!” 

“What?” 

Roxas dropped his bat on the porch and looked up at Leon with an earnest expression. “Struggle tryouts are soon.” 

“Roxas, school is almost over." 

“Uh huh.” Roxas nodded, rushing to explain. “But the community center is putting together kid struggle teams for the summer and i wanna try and Lea said he’d try out too.”

“Struggle…” Leon repeated slowly. “And _now_ seemed like the right time to practice? It’s wet and nearly dark and muddy. Look at your shoes.” 

“They’ll wash…” Roxas muttered, looking down at himself and suddenly realizing why he was in trouble. “You’re supposed to train for stuff outside. I’m not supposed to play with the bat inside and people are always training in the rain in movies.” 

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you know a fighter, better than papa?” 

Roxas’ face scrunched up. “No.” 

“Have you ever seen papa training in the rain?” 

His son pouted harder. “No.” 

“Are you gonna do it again?” 

“I dunno if the training has paid off yet or not.” 

Leon stared down at him and struggled not to call his own son an asshole. “Do you really think that was the correct answer?” 

Roxas shrank back. “Guess not.” 

“Take your shoes off. You are not tracking mud through the house.” Leon said, gesturing for him to hurry up. “C’mon, c’mon, dinner’s ready.” 

Roxas kicked off his shoes and left them by the door but before he could step inside, Leon lift him off his feet. “Hey!”

“No mud in my house.” Leon repeated, carrying him to the nearest bathroom. “Take everything off and wipe off the mud for now. Go to your room for dry clothes and the very second you are done with dinner you are taking a hot shower. You’ll never even get to struggle tryouts if you’re too sick for the entire summer to do anything.” 

“Okay.” Roxas grumbled, already taking off his damp clothes. 

“You know better.” Leon finished, watching the kid continue to pout. He left Roxas to it, trusting him to do as he was told now to avoid getting in deeper trouble. 

By the time he got back into the kitchen, everyone else was at the table with a plate in front of them except for Cloud who was eating at the counter. They needed a bigger table… 

“He coming?” Cloud asked. 

“Once he’s dry.” Leon muttered, feeling a headache coming. He grabbed his laptop and moved to kiss Cloud’s cheek as he sat beside him. A thank you for making his plate. 

He took a bite before opening his laptop again. 

“What are you doing?” Cloud asked. 

“Trying to look into these struggle teams. Apparently Roxas things he's trying out for a team at the community center.” Leon muttered, not overly thrilled, but not against it either. His kid wanting to be on a team and play a sport was far from the worst thing in the world. At the very least he needed to know when and where practice was. 

“You're looking it up now?” Cloud raised a brow, knowing they scolded the kids when they tried to bring screens to dinner. 

Leon heard his tone and sighed. “I know. I know. I’m trying to work out a summer schedule before it creeps up on us. The boys will be out of school before i am. We have to work out which days they’ll be with you and which days we’ll need a sitter. There’s struggle to slide in here now too. Ellone wants to come for a week again and i know dad wants to see us at some point. We still have to block off a week or two Destiny Island too.” There was a lot to work out and more children then there had been the year before. 

“Is Destiny Island the beach? Are we going to the beach?” Rei asked shyly. He'd heard so many stories already and was excited for his first summer break.

“Yep!” Sora grinned. “We go every summer. We got a little house right on the beach” 

“You’ll like it.” Riku smiled a little. “It’ll be your first time there too.” 

“Mine too!” Xion cheered. 

“Alright, looks like struggle is twice a week for their age group.” Leon muttered. “But one of the days is Saturday.” He glanced back at the table. “That goes through your class with papa. That okay for a few weeks, Sora?” 

Sora looked up. “Huh? I don’t wanna play struggle. Do i have to?” 

Leon just blinked and Cloud also took a moment to recover. 

“That’s Roxas, dad.” Ventus offered. 

“Right, he was telling me.” Leon said slowly. “No one else wants to go with him?” By ‘no one’ he’d meant Sora. He’d just assumed really. Sora and Roxas did everything together. 

There was a chorus on ‘no’s’ at the table. 

“Lea’s gonna do it with him.” Riku added. “So he won’t be alone.” 

“Yeah!” Roxas cheered as he came on, a smear of mud still on his face but he was in dry clothes and ran to sit in his spot at the table to start eating. “Even if we aren’t on the same team we can practice together.” 

“It’s gonna be during papa’s class.” Sora said. “You’ll miss it.” 

Roxas shrugged. “Can’t you just teach me any new steps at home.” 

“I guess so.” Sora muttered. 

“Might depend on how many classes you miss.” Vanitas offered. 

The kids talked amongst themselves about it and Leon and Cloud just exchanged a look. Age was a strange factor between all of their children. Sora and Roxas weren’t the oldest by far but besides Riku, they’d been there the longest. They’d been just over a year old when Cloud and Leon held them for the first time. 

It was a jarring realization that they were growing up. Their interests were splitting and they wouldn’t always want to do the same thing as their twin anymore. Ventus and Vanitas enjoying different things didn’t seem so odd but they were older. 

It felt like only just last week that Sora and Roxas were holding hands everywhere they went. Riku didn’t have to be as bossy because the others were old enough to begin making their own decisions.

Reiku was ready to explore things he’d never seen before and Xion was ready to _be_ everything she wanted to be when she was older. 

They weren’t babies anymore. 

Cloud put a hand on Leon’s thigh and squeezed, both of them thinking along the same thoughts. They’re kids wouldn’t be kids forever. They needed to enjoy the time they still had. 

“So…” Cloud muttered. “Roxy’s going to try out for a struggle team?” 

Leon nodded, sliding the laptop closer for him to look. Self defense had taken up a lot of the kids time and they’d keep doing it as long as they still enjoyed it. 

Riku had tried blitzball the year before but had quickly lost interest. Of course, that might have had a lot to do with the changes in the house. Adjusting to four new siblings and one of them being his long lost twin was a lot to deal with. 

There was no telling what things would look like a year from now. 

One by one the kids put their dishes in the sink and went about to different clean up jobs when Leon announced that Roxas would do dishes after his shower. 

“Sora will help you since he forgot he was supposed to help cook today.” Cloud chuckled when the little brunette stared at him with betrayal. “Leave Roxas his share.” That took care of Roxas taking an extra long shower in hopes that Sora would have everything finished before he was done. 

“You all have an hour and a half before you start getting ready for bed.” Cloud called after them, kids seemingly dashing off in every direction. The noise continued anew. There was no such thing as a quiet household with seven kids. 

“Struggle is just beating the crap out of your opponent with a bat.” Leon muttered, reading the rules. 

“There’s more to it than that.” Cloud rolled his eyes, moving to sit beside his husband again. “Zack likes it. He can give Roxy some pointers. This thing cost money?” 

“Yeah, but it’s really not all that much considering it’s a twice a week day camp.” 

“And only for one kid.” Coud added. 

“Yeah…” The realization was hard on both of them. The kids were growing, and the noise in the house would change a little every year. Squall already missed having babies in the house. Having teenagers would be a whole new experience. 

"You think we could get them to stop growing?" 

Cloud leaned closer to drag Leon into a kiss. "Nope." 

Leon sighed softly. It was worth a shot. 

Cloud’s laced his fingers together with Leon’s. “You gotta admit, some changes are good.” Seven children had happened in the blink of an eye after all.

“Yeah.” Leon muttered, almost cringing at the noise level but he wouldn’t change it for anything. Their kids were still kids.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~  
> Series Master List. In order. Mostly. 
> 
> Dreams Mended  
> Out of Order  
> A Winning Distraction (in the middle of Out of Order)  
> Quiet Midnight (in the middle of Out of Order)  
> Radiant Christmas (in the middle of Out of Order)  
> Successful Romance (in the middle of Out of Order)  
> First Dance  
> Until Monday  
> Repeat  
> Not enough treats  
> Wager  
> Calling Home (technically just before and just after Wager)  
> Renewals   
> Date Night  
> Sick Lions  
> Bad Memories  
> Not Perfect (could really fit in a few places, here is fine)  
> Patience  
> Long Weekends  
> Fever  
> Melee  
> Time will Tell  
> Rumble  
> Fortitude  
> A Day for Two  
> Summer Sun  
> Homemade  
> Moving on  
> Probably Haunted  
> The Night Before: **by Kutikue**  
>  It’s only two more  
> Safeguard  
> Finding Sleep  
> Wishes  
> Lights out  
> Professional Aid  
> Hope: **by Jokul_Nightfury_Frost**  
>  Match  
> Foresight  
> Surrounded by Kindness  
> Connected  
> Christmas Wisdom   
> On the Eve  
> Face Time  
> Errands   
> Facing Fears  
> Routine Interrupted   
> Before Our Time : **by PrinceDestati**   
> Well Adjusted   
> Free Advice   
> New Students  
> Stop Growing


End file.
